San Diego County, San Diego Rat Control Situation:
Hi David, Is a UV blacklight still useful, exterior-wise, if it rains after the rodents leave their urine stains? I am in the process of performing exterior maintenance to better exclude my roof rats. 1) I have a 25 year old cedar shake roof in San Diego California with openings under each shake along the rake edge of the roof at the gable ends of my house. There's no drip edge, i.e. under the shakes I have roofing paper (now somewhat curled) that runs more or less up to and rests right atop the fascia board. Because I have skip sheathing, and since the cross section of a shake is a wedge that is up to one inch at the upper, thick end, this appears to create many huge entry points along the rake edges even though the sheathing is rabbeted into the fascia board. As a result, I'm thinking of getting a UV blacklight to use outside the house to sleuth for urine stains along the upper edge of the gable end shakes and fascia boards. My question is, how easily does the winter rain wash away the urine, rendering this a pointless exercise? 2) I noticed a new product called "rat-out gel" and was thinking of applying it along the rake edges mentioned above. Or, maybe I should just buy many rolls of X-Clude and use that instead. Or maybe both. Any comment? Thanks very much for your website, Doug
My response: First off, I do not have experience using UV lights to detect rat urine. But I do suspect that rain will severely limit the effectiveness of this approach. I have never heard of Rat-Out Gel or XClude, but I typically stick to physical barriers rather than repellent type devices. If your roof makes this impossible, you might have a tough time keeping the rats out.
San Diego Rat Control Tip of The Week
How Can I Get Rid Of Rats Outside My House?
Having rats outside your house disturbing your peace is indeed a big deal. Apart from being a nuisance outside your house by creating burrows in your yard or lawn, it's just a matter of time before they find their way into your home. This simply means getting rid of the rats outside your house is as important as getting rid of those in your house.
Have you been looking for the best way to do this in order to keep your environment free from rats? Right here, we will be taking you through some of the most effective and humane ways to get rid of the rats outside your house.
1. Traps
The use of traps in getting rid of rats is a method many people are quite familiar with. To use this method, all you have to do is to buy a trap from a store, bait it, and set them around the places where the rats frequent the most. Before setting this trap, make sure your pets are locked up in a compartment or restricted from moving around your yard to avoid injuring your pets instead of the rats.
2. Smoke Bombs
If the rats have successfully created numerous burrows around your house, using smoke bombs is the best way to get rid of them. To use this particular removal method, all you have to do is release the smoke bombs into all of their burrows. It is very effective, but you need to avoid using it on burrows that are close to trees and other flammable structures in order to avoid fire hazards.
3. Use Dry Ice
This particular removal method is the best option if you are in an urban area. Dry ice is a solid that releases carbon dioxide when dropped into the burrows of rats. When the dry ice is released, the carbon dioxide anesthetizes the rats and kills them. This particular method is very quick and humane.
